October 2013 - Are we neary *there* yet?!

[MrsHoratioNelson]

Welcome, welcome, sit down, put your feet up.

Spreadsheet here

Happy birthday Hayle hope you've had a lovely day.

Tarlia hope your BP is settling down and your son is doing better.

Sorry you're sad Tucking. Try to take it easy and use it as an opportunity to rest and spoil yourself.

Had a rubbish afternoon in work, but only 4 weeks (13 days!) left. Hope everyone who has already started their mat leave is enjoying themselves.

Is anyone else getting an achy pain at the bottom of their bump when walking? I'm not sure if it's ligament type pain or my scar tissue from previous sections pulling. Sometimes I feel like I need to hold my bump up!

Yes moonblues. I often walk to work holding my bump!

umlauf I think Rory is a great name and would have been on my list, but it doesn't go with my surname. How long do you have to register a baby in Spain? Maybe you could wait and see which name the baby suits better. It's unbelievable that you have to prove that you're not divorced - seems totally unfair. Will your baby be entitled to a Spanish passport / joint nationality?

:) It's good to know I'm not alone char1ston!

Been having a wobble over "Ralf" (or Ralph) as our second boy's name (first is Hugo) and, like Um, posted on names (thanks by the way Umlauf, and I think stick with Bertie, although I like Rory lots).... I think DH and I have come back round to it - we both like it! I'm swayed by others' connections / connotations, which mean nothing to me or DH... So for instance, the penis (?!) in Judy Blume's Forever is Ralph (have vaguely heard of the book, that's it) and Ralphing means vomiting... News to me/us, and Zim 31 and what with uni, law school etc, have heard of lots of talking about drunken vomming!!

Anyway, I think we like it still! It's just a bit more "out there"... Four names is hard!

I was put off by the ralf/Rafe confusion, but DH has rightly pointed out that he may like the opportunity oldie an "alternative" / nickname when he's older...

Tarlia - thinking of you tonight. I have twice had to unexpectedly stay in overnight this preg and its a bit grim. How is your DS?

Yes,my bump has felt like it's dragging down for weeks. It's probably due to the ligaments on either side at the bottom of it. So the physio told me last week!

orange they can do that - depends really if your cervix is "favourable",often it sits pointing slightly backwards until it's pretty much ready to do its own thing. But it's your body & if you do not want a sweep you must remember that you can say no. You can say no to anything,or ask for an explanation why they want to do certain procedures. Ask for benefits & risks to be thoroughly explained to you & ask for time to consider your options before you agree to anything if you are unsure.

hello 3am we meet again.
just downloaded mumsnet app on my phone, lets see if it works.

I am not against having a swe ep, but dont think i would let dh have a go if midwife refused!

Hello Orange I've barely slept tonight either :( had just dropped off at about 1 when one of the dogs went mental at a noise outside and DS woke up. Then I was on his floor again as he wouldn't drop off, just escaped now....

My snoring is apparently very bad (so says DP) but it's completely natural for late pregnancy I believe so he has to get over it right?

that can't be good for your back being on the floor.
enough people seen to have problems with dp snoring, you are just balancing it out.

Good morning Orange and Pseudo, another one here struggling to sleep - been awake since 4.00 am, baby seems to be moving about a lot.

Tarlia I hope both you and your son are doing O.K

Hayle hope you had a lovely birthday.

I don't go on maternity leave until 10th of October - 31+6 today. Obviously on days like this where I have had poor sleep its going to be a struggle but I want to keep working as it distracts me and time seems to go quickly. Also just had the summer hols off so have had a rest. I'll see how far I get but plan is to work until 38 weeks.

I have read mixed reviews about selected name for DD2. This is making me waiver about the name we have chosen but do keep coming back to the same name. Also worrying that it may not be suitable for an adult/quite grand sounding - Arabella, will probably call her Bell most of the time anyway. I guess there's going to be mixed reviews about most names. Another one not brave enough to post on the name boards.

Monkey - only about 1 in 10 people like Ralph on the names boards... Never mind!

We're Ralph as well legally. I love it!!

Yet another bad sleeper here - horrid heartburn to blame.

Pseudo - I've been known to snore too even when I'm not pregnant

monkey - I think Arabella is a gorgeous name.

DP and I are struggling to find any names we like. We pretty much parked the whole names discussion weeks ago in the hope inspiration would strike.....but it hasn't! and I'm feeling rather desperate about it now.

Way, way, back on a much earlier thread I mentioned the dilemma of whether/how much to include DD in the name picking process and this remains a big issue. Unfortunately, she passionately hates the few names DP and I were tentativelyleaning towards.

Lots of people in real life have just said we should go with whatever DP and I want, and DD will get used to it. The trouble is she is a stubborn little monkey and I'd hate to get sibling relations off on the wrong foot from the very beginning.

Entirely unprompted, choosing a name is the one aspect of having a baby brother or sister she is taking a real interest in....we should have never let her name the dog as she clearly sees 'name-picking' as her area of expertise.

Oh, there's been so much talk on this thread since I've been away, I hope no one minds if I just jump back into the conversation. I attempted to read it all but my tired brain got pickled....

Bridget - remind me... How old is your DD?

Yay for Ralph, Iheart!!!

Good morning everyone!
My last day at work today and really excited
Really looking forward to getting everything sorted for the baby, as not done anything yet, 36 weeks today
Anyone who is having a normal birth doing any perineal massage yet?

Can I join the insomniacs club? Worst night, and it's not even like I could say it was due to pain, or baby movements, but just general discomfort and aches, which seems like a bit of a lame reason.
My brain is also on overload, worrying both about names and school starting back up.
I'm happy-ish with the girls choices (we have three options) but the boys names cause me angst - one I love just doesn't seem to work with any middle name .
I do have this faith that once the baby is here, that something will just 'feel' right. But that doesn't stop me worrying!
Ok - ramble over, need to get on with the day.

I hope you are home soon, Tarlia and that all of you with stomach issues are ok today.
I missed saying happy birthday to Hayle yesterday, so hope you had a good day.

Apologies to anyone I've missed .

I love all the name talk :-), belle would have been at the top of our list if we were having a girl! Also loving Ralph legAlly we have 3 names that we like... And I mean like definately not in love with/head over heels Etc but the poor little man needs a name. Dd keeps calling him theo and tbh its dh favourite out of the list but I'm swaying towards Harrison personally. Only time will tell I guess

Hope those who didn't sleep well manage to get a nap in today or an early night x

tarlia hope your feeling better this morning and your ds too x

Oh names are such a dilemma! Monkey we know both a little Arabella (4) who is sometimes a Bella but mostly Arabella and she;s gorgeous. Also know a 'big' Arabella (our local 'celeb' neighbour) and equally name comes out easily and doesn't seem too 'grand' as you put it. Lovely name.

Bridget we have same prob with our DS- naming the cat last year was hard enough between the 3 of us, which is prob why I'm so reluctant to bring it up with baby! In fact the name we settled on for the feline daughter would have been nice for Madam- 'Willow' (I can't remember who's got a Willow DD- lovely) I can't really name DD after the cat....can I?

Rachel I don't think I'll be bothering with the peri massage this time- but only cos 'downstairs' is a lot looser this time round than it was the first time! I would recommend it tho- I'm sure it helped last time, tho I still had an epi. My friend got her DH to do it every night (not something mine would do!) and another friend used successively larger specially designed vessels along with the massage oil to enlarge it all . Not something I could face!

33w today! Yey!!!!

Shire - I wouldn't worry too much about the name you like "going" with middle names. They're so so rarely used and lots have people have v "clashing" middle names as their parents have used traditional family names. Def just focus on the first name! We are free choosing the first names and using family middle names (did the same with DD)...

Oh and Natalie- I love the name Theo!

Our DS is 'Ash' (full Ashley). It was one of the few names we both liked and had the benefit of having the anglo-aussie association (and DH is obsessed with cricket!!)
MiL response was: 'That's...er .....nice. As in Gone with the Wind?'
My Mum's response was 'As in fag-ash?' (spot the 20 a day smoker)
They both love it/him now!
I shd probably call Madam 'Shelia' and be done with it

Good morning all! Remember your pelvic floor exercises!

We've reached an impasse re names. We seem to have excluded all possible names under the sun. Our baby shall clearly just be called Baby for the rest of its life...

Sadly, I feel our choice of middle name is quite important, Legally, as we are purposefully avoiding using family names (just too politically charged in our families), so the pair of names kind of need to work together if we are to avoid awkward questions about why we haven't used FiL's name, for example.
I could be mistaken about their reaction, but I would like to avoid that confrontation, if possible.

Legally - DD is almost 7 (birthday in December).

She has woken up in a filthy mood - suspect it is primarily tiredness (her sleep patterns have gone haywire over the summer holidays) but I'm starting to wonder if she's beginning to feel anxious about returning to school and the new baby.

Has anyone else with DC noticed a recent change in behaviour?

I shall be donning a hard hat all day I think.

I see Shire. Some friends did this and chose as middle names: (a) a place that was v important to her and DH; and (b) her maiden name. That shut the families up I think!

Actually, I think it was the name of the river in the city where they met, as opposed to the city name...